I investigate: (i) Agency problems between debt and equity holders, and their impact on capital structure and investment policy; (ii) Agency problems between firm managers and capital providers.The first chapter, "Investment and Financing under Reverse Asset Substitution", shows that banks place...

A number of studies in the prior literature have found a link between cash flow and firm investment [Hubbard (1998) and cites therein]. Findings of most of these studies have the caveat that cash flow could simply be capturing expectations of future profitability because the empirical proxy...

Target-Date Funds (TDFs) facilitate retirement planning by varying asset allocation over time with the goal of reducing portfolio risk. We explore potential agency problems in TDFs by examining their return performance and flow-performance relation. We find that TDFs under-perform balanced funds...

In 1912 it was an iceberg that brought about the demise of the Titanic, 89 years later it was the submerged components that sank the 'unsinkable' Enron vessel. The lessons of that fateful voyage cast a stark metaphoric reminder of the difficulties inherent in maintaining the goal congruence of...